Monday, 15 December 2008

The last race day for the season was a busy one with the best turnout of Predators for months and some of the V8s coming down to get the last chance for testing before their racing starts in the new year.

It was good to see some of the Preds turn up and blow the cob webs off and hopefully they will continue to show up next year.

With so many drivers and the big line up of V8s it was going to be a busy day so it was straight into racing.

We managed one run each in the Black Boat before she decided that she didn’t want to play any more and sulked in the corner to await an overhaul over the holiday break. Many thanks to Ree and Kerry for the use of their boats to get us through the day!

The day brought a few land claims with the usual suspects including myself- you quickly discover how differently the boats handle - some more forgiving than others. Great to see Mal and the RSQKRU getting in some practice for the World Series race, our land claims have never been so professionally managed.

The day went extremely well and everyone got through their runs quickly. Den and Ree took their usual 1st and 2nd place. I managed to come 3rd, driving the unfamiliar P9. It just supports the concept of Predator racing - warm hearts, and evenly matched boats, not deep pockets.

Ryan and Alison made the most of their last day racing, coming 5th and 6th respectively. Sheila pulled off of a very respectable 7th place - her first time getting through to the top 10 (albeit in P9!!) and took out 1st Handicap and 2nd lady for the season. Not bad considering she’d never driven a boat before June!

Mal took the opportunity to take P1 for a skid and showed great promise, coming 1st in handicap for the day. Congrats to Den and Ree first and second (again) and Greg taking third place. Den had the honour of 1st place in the new Pensioner category!!

Cam, El Presidente, had a distracted day with the shiny new Extreme lying in wait for him at the end of the Predator racing. Mal and crew got to test out their rescue techniques when Cam tried to turn Extreme into a Bobcat and reshape the bank on the back straight. Thankfully neither Cam nor Sandy were hurt - only pride and Extreme’s paint job!

After prize giving everyone tucked into the feast of goodies, indulged in a few drinks and enjoyed the Pred Christmas party with the distribution of secret Santa presents. Farewells were made with best wishes to Alison, Ryan and family, off to their new life in Aussie.

Must have had something to do with the Christmas spirit but the Dork of the Day went unawarded. Surprisingly no one volunteered to take it home - funny that!!

I hope everybody has a great Christmas and a safe New Year; hopefully many of you can make it down to Meremere for the World Series V8s to support Cam in 44 Extreme - Go Team Extreme!!! (Just keep it in the water, eh Cam, or should that be “Bobcat” Jones???)

The Trophies

Moving water

About Our Club

We are the New Zealand Predator Jet Sprint club.
We race once a month, usually on the second sunday.
We are a friendly group of people who LOVE to have fun. If you are interested in coming down to have a look, or any further info, email us on den@williams.co.nz